BIR Form 2307 for Freelance Graphic Designers and Illustrators: Which Withholding Rate Applies

A Philippine business that pays an individual freelance graphic designer or illustrator for packaging design, branding, marketing collateral, or book and editorial illustration is generally required to withhold creditable tax and issue BIR Form 2307, the same as it would for any other individual creative or consulting service provider. Which rate applies, however, depends heavily on whether the payee is an individual designer or a design studio organized as a corporation — and on whether the client paying the fee is a Philippine business at all.

This guide is part of the BIR Form 2307 series. It covers the individual 5%/10% rate for a freelance designer, the corporate 10%/15% rate for a design studio, why a foreign-platform client generally changes the outcome entirely, and a worked example contrasting a local packaging-design fee with the same fee paid by a foreign client.

Why a freelance designer’s fee is withheld like a professional fee #

An individual graphic designer or illustrator engaged directly by a Philippine business is rendering a personal creative service — concept development, layout, and final artwork — for a fee, which places the payment in the same professional/talent-fee bracket that already applies to consultants, writers, and other individual service providers throughout this series (see BIR Form 2307 for Professional Fees). It does not matter that graphic design and illustration are not PRC-licensed professions the way accounting or engineering are — RR No. 11-2018’s professional/talent-fee bracket under Section 2.57.2(A) covers individuals paid for rendering services broadly, not only licensed professions.

“…the following individuals shall be subjected to expanded withholding tax: …management and technical consultants…”

— Section 2.57.2(A) of Revenue Regulations No. 2-98, as amended by RR No. 11-2018, as reproduced across BIR compliance references summarizing the provision.

The same reasoning this series has applied to freelance writers and freelance developers — fitting an individually engaged service provider into the closest matching category the enumeration already provides, rather than treating an unnamed occupation as exempt from withholding — applies equally to an individual graphic designer or illustrator paid for creative/design work.

As with any individual professional payee, the designer secures the lower 5% rate by submitting an Income Payee’s Sworn Declaration of Gross Receipts/Sales, together with a copy of their BIR Certificate of Registration, to each business that pays them — see BIR Sworn Declaration for Lower Withholding for how that declaration and its January 15 deadline work. Without it on file, the paying business should default to the higher 10% rate.

Design studio or agency instead of an individual — the corporate rate applies #

When the payee is a design studio or agency organized as a corporation rather than an individual, the corporate professional-fee bracket applies instead — 10%/15% under ATC WC010/WC011, turning on the same ₱720,000 threshold used elsewhere in this series, not the individual ₱3,000,000 threshold. A retail brand engaging “Juan dela Cruz,” an individual freelance illustrator invoicing under his own name and TIN, withholds under WI010/WI011. The same brand paying an identical packaging-design invoice from “Studio Manila Creative, Inc.” withholds under WC010/WC011 instead, because the payee is a corporation providing the service as a business, not an individually engaged creative professional. The deliverable and the fee can be identical — only the payee’s legal form changes which ATC code and rate the paying business applies, the same distinction covered for individual freelancers versus corporate contractors in BIR Form 2307 for Software Developers and IT Consultants.

A foreign client paying through Upwork, Fiverr, or 99designs: generally no withholding #

A Philippine freelance graphic designer or illustrator paid by a foreign client through a platform like Upwork, Fiverr, or 99designs generally receives no BIR Form 2307 at all, because the foreign client sits outside the Philippine withholding tax chain — the same logic covered in Does BIR Form 2307 Apply to YouTube AdSense and Other Foreign Platform Payments to Content Creators?. BIR Form 2307 can only be issued by a Philippine withholding agent, and a foreign business or individual client paying a Philippine designer directly, or through a foreign-operated freelance platform, is not a “payor-corporation/person” reachable by Philippine expanded withholding tax rules the way a local client is.

This does not mean the income is untaxed. A designer who is a Philippine resident citizen still owes Philippine income tax on everything earned from a foreign client through these platforms — it simply arrives without a withholding certificate crediting tax already withheld, so the designer reports it directly as gross business income on their own BIR Form 1701Q and BIR Form 1701, supported by their own payout records rather than a certificate from the client.

Worked example: a local packaging-design fee versus the same fee from a foreign client #

Ms. Bautista, a freelance illustrator, is engaged by a Philippine retail brand for a packaging design project for a fee of ₱60,000. She has an Income Payee’s Sworn Declaration of Gross Receipts/Sales on file with the brand, and her cumulative gross income from this client for the year is ₱2,300,000 — under the ₱3,000,000 threshold — so ATC WI010 at 5% applies.

The retail brand remits the ₱3,000 withheld through BIR Form 0619-E monthly and BIR Form 1601-EQ quarterly, and issues Ms. Bautista a BIR Form 2307 showing ₱60,000 as the income payment, ATC WI010, and ₱3,000 as tax withheld. She later credits that ₱3,000 against her income tax due when filing BIR Form 1701.

Contrast: the same Ms. Bautista is paid an identical ₱60,000 for a similar illustration project, but this time by a US-based client through Upwork. Because the client is a foreign payor outside the Philippine withholding chain, no tax is withheld and no BIR Form 2307 is issued — she receives the full ₱60,000. That does not make the income tax-free: as a Philippine resident, she must still report the ₱60,000 as gross business income on her own quarterly and annual income tax returns, using her Upwork payout records as supporting documentation rather than a withholding certificate.

Frequently asked questions #

Does a company need to issue BIR Form 2307 to a freelance graphic designer or illustrator? #

Yes, if the company is a withholding agent. A fee paid to an individual freelance graphic designer or illustrator for packaging, branding, marketing collateral, or editorial illustration is a payment for professional/talent services and is subject to creditable withholding tax and BIR Form 2307, the same as a consultant’s fee.

What withholding rate applies to a freelance graphic designer or illustrator? #

An individual freelance graphic designer or illustrator generally falls under the 5%/10% professional/talent-fee bracket under Revenue Regulations No. 11-2018: 5% (ATC WI010) if cumulative gross income from that payor for the year is ₱3,000,000 or less and a sworn declaration is on file, or 10% (ATC WI011) above that threshold or without a declaration.

What rate applies when the payment goes to a design studio or agency instead of an individual? #

A design studio or agency organized as a corporation is withheld under the corporate professional-fee bracket instead: 10% (ATC WC010) if gross income for the year is ₱720,000 or less, or 15% (ATC WC011) above that threshold — not the individual 5%/10% rate.

Does a designer paid through Upwork or Fiverr by a foreign client need a BIR Form 2307? #

Generally no. When the client is a foreign business or individual paying through a platform like Upwork, Fiverr, or 99designs, the foreign payor sits outside the Philippine withholding tax chain, so no BIR Form 2307 is issued. The designer still owes Philippine income tax on that income if a resident citizen — it just isn’t reported through a withholding certificate.

Summary #

An individual freelance graphic designer or illustrator paid by a Philippine business is withheld the same way as any other individual professional/talent-fee payee — 5%/10% under ATC WI010/WI011 per RR No. 11-2018, moving to the corporate 10%/15% bracket (WC010/WC011) if the payee is instead a design studio organized as a corporation. A foreign client paying through Upwork, Fiverr, or 99designs changes the outcome entirely: no Philippine withholding agent means no BIR Form 2307, though the income remains taxable and must be self-reported. For related content, see BIR Form 2307 for Freelance Writers and Editors Paid Per Article, Does BIR Form 2307 Apply to YouTube AdSense and Other Foreign Platform Payments to Content Creators?, and the BIR Form 2307 hub.